CoronaVirus and its impact on Chinese factories

As you might be aware, China is fighting a serious battle against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The virus originated in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, in the Hubei province, and has since been found, in much fewer cases, in every province in China. The virus has also been detected in patients abroad (France, USA, Philippines, etc.).

The Chinese government has taken some key decisions to contain the virus. Among them, the official extension of the national holidays to February 10th and the strong recommendation to avoid any travel until further notice.

All the official information we receive here tend to demonstrate that the spreading of the virus will be contained soon and the global situation in China should get back to normal in the coming weeks.

How does the CoronaVirus effect the factories in China?

Most of the factories in China are located along the East coast (Hebei, Zhejiang, Guangdong) for better logistic and delivery methods. Since these provinces cannot provide enough workers, an important part of the manpower comes from provinces in the center of China (such as Hubei, Shaanxi, Anhui, Hunan). Right before the Chinese New Year, these workers go back home forming the world’s biggest human migration.

During that time, Chinese factories shut down for a few weeks (usually around a month) and slowly get back to a full capacity after the New Year festival as workers gradually come back.

This year, the spread of the CoronaVirus has delayed the return of the workers and no official announcement has been made yet about a date of safe travel. From the information that we have about the current situation, we believe that most of the factories shall start productions in March 2020 in regain a full production capacity in the middle of April 2020.

What about the trade fairs?

The biggest trade fairs (CIFF, Canton Fair) have delayed their March/April sessions to a later time (probably June/July). The organisers have not shared more details about final dates yet.

What does that mean for Asiaction?

While factories aren’t fully back to work yet, our office in China is 100% operational. It is a good time to carefully craft your procurement plans in China in 2020. Our project managers will assist you in setting up a procurement plan for the projects you want to implement in the coming months.

For your inspections, audits or order management, we will perform our services according to the Chinese factories’ working schedule.

FAQ

What are the effects on current productions?

Currently, all productions are on hold. We expect that most of the productions will start again at the end of March 2020. It depends on the situation in each factory and on the development of the CoronaVirus in China. All productions in Hubei province are on full stop until further notice.

What is the situation with my Chinese factories and my productions?

The situation varies from a factory to another. Some factories are able to start production on February 10th 2020, others will likely start at the end of March 2020.

When can factories in China ship orders?

The official announcement says that all workers should go back to work on February 10th. Your goods, if ready, shall be shipped from that date.

Will I receive contaminated goods from China?

The risk of being infected with the contents of a package from China is almost zero. If the coronavirus can survive in the outside environment for three hours or less on dry surfaces, the transport conditions eliminate the risk of contamination. The virus is too fragile to stay alive for the length of a transportation by boat (20-30 days). And in the hold of an airplane, it’s too cold for the virus to stay active.

In China since 2005 and an avid news reader, I have acquired knowledge in different topics, mostly in quality and order management in China. I regularly share news and information linked to these topics on our blog and on LinkedIn.